Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ken,Tell about eyeglass gizmo

You mentioned something that attaches to eyeglasses-sort of a peepsight -that helps aging eyes see handgun sights.I don't wear glasses but would put it on shooting glasses if you thought it would help.Remember what I'm talking about?

I remember the article also, but more recently I saw it in use on TV of all places. The Lady (I cannot remember her name right now), had glasses with one eye "patched out" so you use only one eye & in front of that lens there was a peep sight, kind of like those little miniature rear view's that bicycle people wear.

Pat

There are four kinds that I know-of � and you can make three of 'em for yourself.

� Some companies give away free "shades" that slide onto the temples of your glasses and block side light from shining on the outer sides of your eye sockets, reducing or eliminating the reflection of that shine in your lenses. Cut your own.

� You can also cut your own block-out patch to fit over or behind the lens for your off-side eye, to keep that eye from giving you an unwanted image. It's in effect kind of like the patches that some one-eyed men (including Yr Obdt Svt, sometimes) wear to cover their blind eyes.

� Making your own "stop-down" aperture is a little more complicated but still dog-easy.

� With your head at whatever angle you hold it when you shoot, look through the lens in front of your aiming eye, as if you're looking at a target over your sights. Close your off-side eye if leaving it open bothers you.
� Right in line with the center focus point of your field of view, mark the outside of the lens with a dot from a grease pencil.
� With a felt-tip pen, blacken a piece of gummed paper.
� With a red-hot wire of the appropriate diameter, burn a hole through the middle of this blackened sticker. As Goldilocks would probably advise, not too small, not too large. Experiment with hand-held practice apertures (start small) until you find-out how big an aperture you need. Just be sure that you don't burn an aperture that's just large enough to be OK for light that's brighter than will light your target but too small for the light that lights your target. Dimmer light needs a larger aperture.
� Stick the gummed black sticker onto the inside of your lens, with the aperture smack-dab behind the grease-pencil dot.
� Wipe the grease-pencil dot off the front of the lens, and you're in business with your aiming eye "stopped down" like a camera lens, for increased depth of field (closer and farther objects in sharp focus).

When you focus on your front sight (the proper sight picture), your rear sight will be less blurry than it would look without the aperture � but not necessarily as sharp as your front sight.

� There used to be, and may still be, commercial diaphragms with suction cups to stick to your lens, and wheels with stop-down apertures of several diameters. This kind has its advantages � you can take 'em off easily, and you can easily choose the appropriate aperture du jour.

BTW, thanks again for the loan of your .41 Tracker. I dang near kept it!

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I think the "gizmo" is a Merit optical device. The nicest feature is the adjustable diopter (aperature), which the others offering a similar device do not generally have.
I did a few quick searches, but found it only at Brownell's.

Thanks!

"Merit" was the name that I was trying to remember but couldn't. It ain't easy bein' senile!

(At least I can still spell aperture right � so I guess I haven't lost it all yet!)



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I have one and yes they DO work.Something about the eye being unable to focus on two objects at the same time but when looking through an aperture or pinhole this changes.Maybe one of our more learned campfire members can explain this.The front sight,rear sight and target are absolutely crystal clear and sharp.Champions Choice in Tennessee may still be a source for the Merit Optical Device.

I can explain it, all right, but that explanation would take much more than a single post would accommodate.

Only the point focused on is absolutely sharp. Everything closer and farther than that point is out of focus. The farther anything is from the point focused on, the more it's out of focus. The small aperture merely reduces the amount of the error, making the out-of-focus points look sharp. The eye can not distinguish a blur smaller than a certain amount or dimension, so the image that's so slightly blurred looks sharp to the eye even though it's slightly out of focus.

Bottom line � the smaller the aperture, the smaller the blur. The smaller the blur, the "sharper" the out-of-focus image appears to be.

There are mathematical equations for fairly precisely calculating the field of acceptably "sharp" focus for a photographer's lens, negative, � of enlargement, viewing distance, etc � that's how precise this little fact of physics is. Any good book on lens physics explains it clearly, usually with diagrams.

What's true of the camera lens is also true of the eye. Look over open sights with your unaided eye focused on your front sight on a bright day, and you'll see the rear sight and the target "sharper" (less blurred) than they appear on a dull day � because the pupil of your eye is smaller in diameter on the bright day.

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Ken & Gene, sorry to horn in on your thread. I bought a Lyman Hawkeye shooters optic aid from sportsmans guide for about 18$. it does seem to work for me with irons on rifle or pistol. this device comes in at about 25% of the price of the Merit. please don't think I'm saying this is the equal of the Merit, its just a cheap way to try the concept. larry

You can also wear a cap with a brim. Pulling your head down until just the sights may be seen sharpens them a bit.
Good luck!

Those of us old and blind enough to wear blended bifocals can tell you that if you tilt your head just right, there's a spot on the glasses where the sights are in sharpest focus. Not quite as good as the Merit, but still an improvement over some other things I've tried.

By the way, Merit also makes a screw in insert for a peep sight that has an adjustable aperture. Lets you really sharpen the sight picture.

The Sportsman's Guide has the Lyman "Hawkeye" aperture for sale on-line (item AX5M-80310) for $17.97 ($16.17 for Buyers' Club members). It sticks on an eyeglass lens with a suction cup.

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Merit's web site is:www.meritcorporation.com. The unit your refering to cost $65.00. I use their hunting apertures on a couple of my rifles.